Rebellion celebrate Rogue Trooper’s 42nd anniversary with a cover reveal for the forthcoming Garth Ennis and Patrick Goddard epic Rogue Trooper: Blighty Valley collection, set to release July 2, 2024. The cover is a Goddard original produced especially for this collection.
Blighty Valley was the first extended Rogue Trooper story published in the 2000 AD weekly anthology in many years and was also the latest return of 2000 AD alumnus Garth Ennis, who has been on a roll spearheading the recent Battle Action revival. Ennis had last been seen in 2000 AD’s 2022 Christmas special writing Bonjo from Beyond the Stars, which sadly was the last published work by veteran artist Kevin O’Neill.
Rebellion said:
“Tuesday 29th September marks the anniversary of Rogue Trooper’s debut in the pages of 2000 AD, and to celebrate we’re happy to share with you the cover for our forthcoming collection of Rogue’s recent return to 2000 AD in Rogue Trooper: Blighty Valley by Garth Ennis and Patrick Goddard”
2000 AD editor Matt Smith said about the Blighty Valley run:
“Garth Ennis has written classic 2000 AD characters before, but this is the first time he’s scripted Rogue Trooper. As you’d expect from someone steeped in war comics, his take on the G.I. is powerful, thrilling and explosive. With Patrick Goddard providing the stunning visuals, this a dramatic, unmissable addition to the Nu Earth saga.”
Blighty Valley, first published in 2000 AD progs 2326-2335, and 2337-2339, earlier this year was:
“…a thirteen-part story set at ‘Night’s Horizon’, the annual event where Nu Earth’s orbit carries it closest to a nearby black hole. The Norts call it Zvartchvintern; the first settlers knew it as Lightfall. Things have a reputation for going a little… screwy around this time. Now, Rogue and his bio-chip buddies are about to experience those effects first-hand…”
Rogue Trooper was created by Gerry Finley-Day and Dave Gibbons. He debuted in 2000 AD prog 228 on August 29, 1981. A fan favourite, the series follows Rogue, a blue-skinned genetic infantryman specially engineered to survive the poisoned No Man’s Land that is the war ravaged planet of Nu Earth – where Norts and Southers vie for dominance of the key strategic interstellar point in their galactic forever war. After a betrayal that kills his entire squad, Rogue (true to his name) becomes a lone wolf stalking the wastes, with the personalities of his former squad mates imbued into biochips installed on different parts of his gear. He scours the planet in search of the traitor general that betrayed them all.
The character has been adapted into a 2006 videogame for PS2 and Xbox (later ported to modern consoles in 2017). Filmmaker Duncan Jones is attached to direct a forthcoming film based on the character.
In case you missed out on the original run, here are the first few pages from Blighty Valley:
